Active Member

Thinking of getting a panny ae-300, but my head's full of questions as I've never had a projector before. I've looked through the FAQ, but it's a bit of a information overload job, so if I could just ask a couple of quickies to get me going....

Can you put the speakers behind the screen ? I want to have the image as large as possible so that the screen would have to be as close as possible to touching both sides of the room. This means that the front three speakers would have to go behind. If the screen is pull down from the ceiling type, would the force from the air shifting in front of the speakers cause the screen to 'flap', or are these pull down screens weighted at the bottom ? Do most people use fold down screens with their own stand or have them attached to the ceiling ?

Is the size of the projected image purely a factor of how close the projector is to the screen, or can you position the projector first, and then adjust the image size to fit the screen ?

Guest

This really dsepends on your size of your room and aspect of your walls (width to height ratio).

I would of thought with ceiling mounting the projector you could easily put speakers underneath the projected image.

Screen choice, well as most things on here it is purely subjective, do what you feel comfortable with. Personally I would have a fixed install jobby as I hate the fabric screens.

Positioning, do the screen first making sure it is EXACTLY where you want it. Then put the projector where it needs to be, don't do it the other way round as you might have to move the screen a long way before they match up, always do it from the source point.

Active Member

I was thinking that I would have to put the screen up to watch a film and take it down again afterwards, as I was planning on having it at the window end of my rectangular room. From what you said I think it might be better now to have a fixed screen on the opposite wall instead.

I also thought that you could just plonk the screen at one end of the room and the projector at the other, and then adjust it somehow so that the image fills the screen, but it sounds like your saying that you have to fix the screen first and then you have to put the projector at a specific distance away to get the correct image size. This make me think that I'll have to go for ceiling mounting as opposed to putting a shelf on the opposite wall, as I was first thinking.

About the speakers, I've B&W 602's on top of 24" atacama stands, so they're about 43" high. The room is 90" tall, so I'm thinking that they will be higher than the bottom of the screen. Perhaps the width of the image won;t be wall to wall so they be room to fit them next to the walls.

I was thinking about rushing down to the highstreet tomorrow and getting a pj on interest free credit, intalling it in the afternoon, and be watching films by the evening. I can see now that I'll have to put a bit of planning into this one...

Guest

You can get screens with many little holes designed for speakers to be placed behind them - like in real cinemas. I think Da Lite (http://www.da-lite.com/) do them. Most (all?) projectors allow you to zoom in and out at least a little bit without moving the PJ.

These are not generally suitable for digital projectors - the panel structure in the image causes visual interference with the perforations - moire type effects etc. There probably is a micro-micro perf material available for LCDs/DLPs, but I've no idea how much it would cost......

If you're using your current speakers, then a permanent install of a perforated screen probably wouldn''t suit - you'd have to mount the Left, Centre and Right speakers permanently behind the screen - do a search for 3xels post on his movie room for an example.

Most projectors have a degree of flexibility about being able to "zoom" the image to make it larger/smaller to suit your installation. Minimum zoom is recommended for best image quality, but in normal residential circumstances various comprimises have to be made. If the room is not to be dedicated for movie viewing, I'd suggest a pull-down or electric screen (depending on budget), and place your speakers to either side of the screen area, and the centre underneath. With a 7ft wide screen, this should be do-able in fairly normal sized sitting rooms.

Sean G.

Hello theritz it appears that you have not posted on our forums in several weeks, why not take a few moments to ask a question, help provide a solution or just engage in a conversation with another member in any one of our forums?

Distinguished Member

As Sean rightly says, some perf'd screens cause moire with certain projectors at certain distances, but if you can go the DIY route, you may be able to get away with it.

I've seen over at www.avsforum.com the mention of certain fabrics that are cheaply available from fabric shops, but are very accoustically transparent. I think one clothe was Lycra, but I'm not certain. They have the advantage of not having holes and don't produce the moire effect. Do a search in the screen forum for more info.

You build the frame to the size you want, then stretch the fabric over it, and staple it to the back. You can fix a smaller black frame onto the front to make border. It also hides the fram underneath which may be visible, and will also have different reflective properties to the rest.

The advantage of a DIY screen is that it is cheap, the size that you want, and will allow you to see what kind of screen works or doesn't work in your room.

I made a screen for myself (not perf'd though), and there are a couple of pics on my website if you're interested.